Hey Everyone,
Things are starting to slow down with the holidays fast approaching. Big stories will begin to taper off, and over the next few weeks we’ll all be inundated with end of year recaps and 2020 predictions. When reading these it’s always important to try and separate the signal from the noise as well take any future predictions with a grain of salt. With that, let’s dive into it.
Quick Bites
Bruce Lee on Self-Actualization and the Crucial Difference Between Pride and Self-Esteem: Bruce Lee was much more than a master of martial arts; he was an incredible thinker and philosopher. This is an excellent analysis of his thoughts on self-actualization, which I believe is applicable to everyone. (4 minutes)
The New Best Restaurants of 2019: The Infatuation is my favorite resource for restaurant recommendations. They released their list of the best new restaurants for 2019 earlier this week, and it’s a must-read for any foodies. There is a global list as well as city-specific lists for NYC, LA, SF, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Philly, and London. (~5 minutes)
The Best of Goethe’s Aphorisms: This is a great selection of aphorisms from the 19th-century German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that have been curated by Farnam Street. Definitely worth a browse, these will get you thinking. (4 minutes)
Deeper Dives
Silicon Valley’s Psychedelic Wonder Drug is Almost Here: This is a fascinating look into progress around the use of psychedelic drugs for addiction treatment and focus. One company, MindMed, is working on a compound called 18-MC that will provide all the upside of psychedelic drugs while cutting out the downsides of tripping. (12 min)
What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?: Almost two-thirds of people released from California’s prison system return within three years, and the unemployment rate for people who have been incarcerated is more than six times the national average. How can we, as a society, fix that? This great article from the Atlantic offers insight into how Slack is taking small steps to tackle the issue by giving former inmates a chance at redemption through their Next Chapter program. (10 min)
The Cynic’s Guide to Reading Business Books: As an avid reader of business books, I found myself nodding my head at this entire article. It’s spot-on in its description of how most business books come to be and is worth keeping in mind the next time you pick one up. (11 min)
How Airbnb Profits From Our Love of Experience: How Airbnb Profits From Our Love of Experience: The trend of valuing experiences more than things doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. The market for food & travel related experience is rapidly expanding, and Airbnb has positioned itself to reap the rewards. This Eater article offers an interesting look into how they’ve built up their Airbnb Experiences product over the past few years. (15 min)
Media
Finding Mastery - Dr. Michael Breus on The Key to a Better Night's Sleep: Finding Mastery is a great podcast from Dr. Michael Gervais, world-class sports & high-performance psychologist. This episode centered on sleep and how Dr. Breus became one of the world’s leading experts on the subject is worth a listen.
Tweet of the Week
Song of the Week
Apple Music Link
Books
Currently Reading
Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber (Mike Isaac)
Iron Gold: Red Rising Series #4 (Pierce Brown)
Recently Read
What You Do Is Who You Are (Ben Horowitz): I got the chance to hear Ben speak at an event in NYC last month and received a copy of his new book. It’s a breeze to read and offers great insight into developing company culture through several unique stories. (4/5)
The Man Who Solved The Market(Gregory Zuckerman): An interesting look into the life and work of Jim Simmons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies. A great read for anyone interested in the history of quantitative finance. (4/5)
Parting Thoughts
This Week in History
Google released the public version of its Chrome web browser 11 years ago on December 11, 2008. Within several years Chrome became the most widely used web browser globally. According to the CATO institute, Chrome now has 64% of the global market share for web browsers. (source)
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” – Bruce Lee
I hope to hear from some of you with your thoughts on this week’s content and look forward to any conversations that stem from that. If you found something interesting, don’t be shy in forwarding it along to a friend. Until next week.
-Cody